FEARING AND BELIEVING.
Marion Mackay, Strathlongue, was a woman eminently pious and self-denied, and useful in instructing young persons. At one time a few godly fathers had gathered at the riverside, not far from her house, for then “they that feared the Lord spake often one to another.” She, observing them, drew near, when John Grant, seeing her, said, “This is Marion. I could put my soul in her soul’s stead, and yet no one will get her to confess that she has saving faith.” Mr. William Calder, catechist, who was one of the company, said: “What if I should be able to make her do so?” “Well, if so,” replied John, “I will give you a good dinner.” She came and sat down beside them. John said to her: “What brings you here, when you say you fear you will not be with us in Eternity?” “I will be with you as much as I can here, though I should be separated from you hereafter.” Mr. Calder then asked her: “Do you believe, Marion, that you must be saved by the shedding of the blood of Christ, and that you must be washed in His blood and clothed in His righteousness?” “Oh! my dear,” she replied, “if I believe anything, I believe that”; whereupon John Grant acknowledged that Mr. Calder had made good his point.
[Note.—The above story was told by David Steven, Bower, Caithness, and recorded in Memorial of David Steven, by Rev. Alex. Auld.]
A violent “hater and persecuter of the dissenters” in the person of Sir Richard Cradock, a Justice of the Peace, lived near John Rogers. Hearing that the good minister was to preach some miles away, Sir Richard hired two men to go as spies, and take down the names of all the hearers whom they knew. The names were brought, and the summonses were issued to all these, to appear with Mr. Rogers before Sir Richard on a certain day. The whole party came on the day appointed and sat in the waiting hall with trembling hearts. While there waiting, a little girl of six or seven years of age appeared, who turned out to be Sir Richard’s grand-daughter. She looked at Mr. Rogers and he, being naturally fond of children, took her upon his knee, “which occasioned her to conceive a great fondness for him.”
At length Sir Richard sent a servant to say that one of the witnesses had taken ill and could not attend that day and that therefore they must come another day. Accordingly they came on the day appointed and were condemned to imprisonment. While in the waiting hall again, after the passing of the sentence, the little girl appeared, and having expected to see her, Mr. Rogers had brought some “sweet meats” to give her. As soon as she saw him she came running and appeared fonder of him than before. This child evidently was a particular favourite of her grandfather’s, “and had got such an ascendency over him that he could deny her nothing.” And she also possessed such a violent temper that she could bear no contradiction, “so that she was indulged in every thing she wanted.” This bad spirit in the present instance was over-ruled for good. While she was sitting on Mr. Rogers’ knee, eating the “sweet meats,” she looked earnestly at him, and asked, “What are you here for, Sir?” He answered. “Your grandfather is going to send me and my friends to jail.” “To jail,” says she. “What have you done?” “I did nothing but preach, and they did nothing but hear me,” was his quick answer. “But,” says she, “my grandpapa sha’n’t send you to jail,” and off she went to her grandfather’s business room “and knocked with her head and heels till she got in,” and said to him, “What are you going to do with my good old gentleman in the hall?” Get you about your business,” was his reply. “But I won’t,” she said, “He tells me that you are going to send him and his friends to jail.” The child got into such a violent temper that Sir Richard went immediately into the hall and addressed the men thus; “I had made out your mittimus to send you all to jail, as you deserve; but at my grandchild’s request, I drop the prosecution, and set you all at liberty.” They all bowed and thanked Sir Richard. But Mr. Rogers, going to the child, laid his hand upon her head, and lifting up his eyes to heaven, said, “God bless you, my dear child! May the blessing of that God whose cause you now plead, though as yet you know him not, be upon you in life, at death, and to all eternity!” He and his friends then left the hall.
The above remarkable story was told by Timothy Rogers, the son of the ejected minister, while he was having dinner in the house of Mrs. Tooly, an eminent Christian lady in London, who was distinguished for her piety “and love to Christ and His people, and whose house and table were always open to them.”
Mrs. Tooly had listened to the story as related by young Mr. Rogers, and asked, “Are you Mr. Rogers’ son?” He told her he was. “Now,” she said, “I will tell you something you do not know: I am the very girl your dear father blessed in the manner you related; and it made an impression on me which I could never forget.”
The following shows how the Lord answered Mr. Rogers’ prayer for the child. Mr. Timothy Rogers was curious to know how the Lord had dealt with this lady, and she cheerfully gave the whole story of her life’s experience, which is as follows.
After her grandfather’s death she became the sole heiress of his whole estate. Having none to control her she ran “into the fashionable diversions of the age without restraint.” But she confessed that she found dissatisfaction in all the pleasures she gave herself to. Her health broke down. She went to Bath, hearing that it was a place for pleasure as well health. There she consulted a doctor who happened to be a godly man. When he inquired what was her trouble, she answered, “Why, doctor, I don’t ail so much as to my body, but I have an uneasy mind that I cannot get rid of.” “Truly, Miss,” said he, “I was so too, till I met with a certain book, and that cured me.” “Books,” said she, “I get all the books I can lay my hands on; all the plays, novels and romances I hear of, but after I have read them my uneasiness is the same.” “That may be, Miss,” said the doctor, “and I don’t wonder at it.” The doctor kept the title of the book concealed till she had promised faithfully to read it over and over again. When the doctor produced the book, she discovered it was the New Testament. She looked at it and said, “Pooh! I could get that at any time.” “Why, Miss,” said he, “so you might: but remember I have your solemn promise that you will read it carefully.” “Well, though I never read it before, I will give it a reading,” she said.
Accordingly, she began to read it, and it soon attracted her attention. “Her mind now became ten times more uneasy than before.” She soon returned to London and for a time had no peace of mind. But one Saturday night she had a remarkable dream. She saw that she was in a place of worship, and heard a sermon, but when she awoke she could only remember the text. The idea of the place, however, and of the minister’s person was still strong in her mind. In the morning she told the dream to her female companion and, after breakfast, they set out in search of the place she saw in her dream.
They entered several churches but none of them answered to the place she saw in her sleep. Their search was fruitless to begin with, but in the afternoon they followed a crowd that was making for a certain church. As soon as she entered the door and surveyed the place, she turned to her companion and said, “This is the very place I saw in my dream.” Soon after, the minister entered and she said, “This is the very man I saw in my dream; and, if every part of it will hold true, he will take for his Text, Psalm 116: 7, ‘Return unto thy rest, O my soul: for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee.'”
During the minister’s prayer she was all attention, and every sentence went to her heart. He afterward took for his Text the words quoted above and which she heard in her dream, and God was pleased to make the discourse founded upon it, the means of her “saving conversion,” and thus she at last found what she had so long sought elsewhere, “Rest for her soul.” Now she obtained that blessing from God, which John Rogers, so many years before, had so solemnly and fervently implored on her behalf.